Caster glide



Feb. 20, 1962 M. KRAMCSAK, JR

CASTER GLIDE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 20, 1957 I ,Q... /m

2 W...- AWIIII 7, 4

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Feb. 20, 1962 Filed Aug. 20, 1957 M. KRAMCSAK. JR 3,021,551

CASTER GLIDE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYJS INVENTOR 3,e2l,55l CAdTER Shh-Ell Michael Krarncsalr, .ln, Bridgeport, Conn, assignor to The Bassist; Company, Bridgeport, Conn, a corporation f Qonnecticut Filed Aug. 2%, 1957, Ser. No. 679,25 2 Claims. (Cl. 16-42) This invention relates to caster glides and more particularly to those of the general type shown in Patent No. 2,641,016, dated June 9, 1953, in which the article includes a smooth-bottomed lower cup containing an upstanding resilient cushion, which cushion supports from beneath a spacer element of dome shape with the upper end of which is associated a resilient metal retainer having peripheral projections engaging the inner surface of a hollow round furniture leg.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved glide of this general character.

Another object is to provide improved retaining means associated with the upper end of the spacer member and an improved arrangement of this retainer means with respect to the spacing member which supports it and the fastening means which connects it to the other parts of the glide unit.

' To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a glide embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the glide;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view;

FIG. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlar ed vertical section of a part of the glide taken on line 55 of FIG. 3; 7

FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail of the resilient retainer looking toward the under portion thereof;

FIG. 7 is a detail of a portion of a blank strip from which the retainers are made; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the bezel associated with the glide base and cushion, which bezel is here shown in an inverted position.

The glide selected for illustration has a smooth-bottomed metal cup having an upstanding side wall in which is received the enlarged lower portion of an elastic cushion made preferably of rubber, the enlarged lower part of the cushion being held in place in the cup by a metal bezel, as hereinafter described, and the narrow portion of the cushion being extended upwardly beyond the bezel to support at its upper end a spacer element which in this form is of sheet metal and presents a hollow spacing dome adapted to be projected into the tubular or other hollow furniture leg. Supported on the upper end of this dome is a resilient metallic retainer having peripheral extensions or projections adapted to be engaged with the inner surface of a round hollow leg with incidental lateral compression of the retainer in a manner to hold the glide firmly against dislocation. From the lower end portion of the cushion a rivet-like fastener is extended upwardly through the cushion, the spacer element and the retainer element, and riveted over at the upper end for securing together the several parts of the glide.

In the drawings, the metallic bottom cup is shown at it), the rubber cushion at 11, the bezel at 12, the spacer member generally at 13, the retainer at 14, and the rivetlike connector at 15.

As previously mentioned, the cushion 11 has a laterally extended lower portion, and this is indicated at 16, the same presenting at the exterior a conical surface 17 inclined upwardly at a slight angle to join the cylindrical surface of the narrow upper portion or neck 18 of the 3,Zl,55l Patented Feb. 20, 1962 cushion. This conical surface is engaged by a flange part 19 of the bezel or ring 12. This flange part 19 is integral with a downwardly extending part 20 of the bezel. When the bezel is applied to the cushion to hold the latter in the position shown in FIG. 4, the lower part 20 of the bezel is bent over at the lower part, as indicated at 20*, so as to underlie somewhat the side wall 21 of the cup ltl whereby the lower part of the cushion is very solidly held in the cup.

In the form shown here, the spacer member '13 is a cupped sheet metal member presenting a spacer dome and a channeled peripheral round base 13 in which the lower edge of the hollow cylindrical furniture leg is received, this base in turn being supported upon the upper surface of the cushion neck. The upstanding dome portion 22 of the spacer is cylindrical at the lower part, and this cylindrical part merges into a gradually rounded upper portion 23. At the top of the portion 23 is a round aperture 24 in which is received the upper end portion of the rivet or stem 15. The-rivetlS is .a solid rivet, hollowed out at the top, as .shown at 25, and riveted over to hold the retainer against a small area of the upper dome surface immediatelysurrounding the hole or aperture 24. In riveting over the upper end of the rivet,

the wall of the rivet is flanged or turned laterally, as.

indicated at 26, the result being that part of the retainer which is immediately adjacent the retainer hole or aper-j ture 27 has a lower surface-abutting thedome, while the peripheral partof the rivet wall 26 abuts the upper surface of the retainer in a location radially outwardly of, the contact region between the dome and the retainer. This is shown in FIG. 5.

In this form, the lower end of the rivet presents a disk 28 which is completely embedded in the lower part of the cushion, as shown in FIG. 4. V g The retainer 14 is in form an upwardly crowned memher which, in plan, is essentially square. It presents four downwardly bent corners, the sides of each of these corners presenting in planan angle of substantially These, in effect, present four pointed, downwardly turned projections, the points being provided between edges located at 90 to each other. These perimetral projections, as will be pointed out hereinafter, are especially effective in locking the glide securely in place in the round tubular leg indicated at 28 (FIG. 5). The upper surface of the retainer is .well shown in FIG. 1 and other views, and the dished under surface ofthe retainer is well shown in FIG. 6.

Referring especially to FIGS. 5 and 6, the retainer is characterized by a central ringlike portion 29 which is planar and of small area so as to make contact over a small area with the top of the spacer dome, as described above. Joining this ringlike planar portion is another portion 30 of the retainer having a very slight downward curve, as best shown in FIG. 5, this part 30 being also of ring shape but of substantially greater width than the portion 29. The periphery of this portion 30 is somewhat short of the sides of the square-shaped retainer (FIG. 6), or, in other words, the periphery of portion 30 has a radius shorter than the distance from the center point to a side of the square. This leaves a portion, generally indicated at 31, completely surrounding the portion 30, which portion 31 includes the corner portions 32 of the retainer, and lateral portions 33 which interconnect said corner portions.

'It has been indicated above that the portion 30 is slightly curved or dished. The curve of this portion is on a relatively large radius. Where, for example, the inner diameter of the tubular leg is /8. inch, and where the diameter of the retainer from corner to corner is .937 inch, the radius of portion 30 will be larger, i.e., about 3 1 /2 inches. The portion 31, however, as shown in FIG. 5, is sloped or inclined to give it a conical shape in vertical section, the angle of this part to the horizontal being about 45. The vertical distance from the summit of the retainer to the points of the square will be about .187 inch, and, as best shown in FIG. 2, the downward bending of the peripheral portion 31 causes the creation of shallou but relatively long scallops between the points or tips of the retainer. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, the sides of the retainer in plan are somewhat bulged, bellied out or arched in fabricating the retainer from a fiat square blank.

The retainer can be made very economically by a process involving relatively simple steps. The retainer can be made from a thin strip of springy steel, for example, to form a number of interconnected blanks. A portion of such a blanked-out strip is shown in FIG. 7. In this condition the individual blanks are still interconnected by short tongues which at a later stage are severed to separate the blanks. The tongues are indicated at 34, and at 35 are indicated holes formed in the blanks at the centers thereof. At the same time that the holes 35 are made, the sides of the strip are notched, as shown at 36, so as to provide the tongues. Cutting through the tongues forms on each individual blank lugs 33 of hardly perceptible depth which in this particular instance appear in the finished article.

The fiat retainer blanks formed as above described are next subjected to one or more press operations for the purpose of converting the blank to the ultimate retainer having the structure above described. The manner of assembling the different parts of the glide unit and of interconnecting the parts will be clear from the foregoing desccription. The bezel arrangement above described serves to encase and protect better than heretofore the lower portion of the rubber cushion, and the narrow upstanding neck of the cushion permits some deflection of the upper structure relatively to the base structure, which is conducive to the satisfactory mounting of the glide in the furniture leg.

The invention also provides a retainer structure and retainer mounting that has important advantages over those used heretofore. The retainer having the described form is very economical in respect to the use of the springy metal inasmuch as a minimum amount of this material is required. While possessing this advantage, the formation of the retainer is such as to improve it markedly in comparison to previously known articles of this kind. The projections which engage the inner surface of the leg are four in number, avoiding a multiplicity of smaller and less efiective projections commonly used heretofore, and these projections of the present invention come to sharp points defined by edges at about-90 to each other and are heavily supported and anchored by reason of their relatively large width, each such projection in efliect having firm support, not only at the apex part but in lateral portions sufilcient to give each projection a width equal to about one quarter of the square. The crowning or sloping provided by the portions 29, 30, 32 and 33, mentioned above, all has the efiect of providing a retainer crown of maximum strength and durability. The angular downturned points dig into the leg wall in a manner to inhibit strongly withdrawal of the glide from the leg. The scallop effect at the sides of the retainer provides strengthening arches disposed between the projection points. The form of the retainer is such that it is especially easily pushed or driven itno the furniture leg. The structure is such as to increase the purchase or mechanical hold in placing the glide in the mounted position. For one thing, the wide but relatively shallow archsupported projections have considerable contact laterally with the leg surface, and this presents a. more extensive and more solid contact area with the leg than can be obtained when the retainer is provided with a multiplicity of narrow, poorly supported small and weaker projections such as have been commonly used. It is apparent that the form of the retainer is such that it is very resistant to damaging compression or distortion in an axial direction, and, as regards lateral or transverse pressure or compression, it has been indicated that there is ample resistance in this respect also, but not enough resistance to interfere in any way with the facility of application to the leg.

Retainers of generally square shape made of springy material have been used heretofore in connection with glides applicable to hollow legs of generally square cross section, but in the present instance the leg is a hollow cylindrical leg or one presenting a cylindrical glidereceiving socket. In connection with hollow cylindrical legs, it has been proposed heretofore to use a springy retainer in the form of an elongated strip presenting rightangled leg-engaging corners, but such a strip is not essentially square as in the present case, and has no such shape and action as the retainer herein described, nor any such mounting.

The present retainer, among other features, is noticeably strengthened and made more eitective by reason of the fact that the sides of the projections are of arched formation in planes parallel to the retainer axis, and also (by reason of the lateral bulging best shown in FIG. 6) in a plane directed transversely of the axis.

While in this description a single form of the article is disclosed, it is understood that this is by way of example only, and that various modifications and changes in the detailed structure may be made within the principles of the invention and the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a caster device having a stem adapted to be inserted in one direction into an opening of a supported member, an arrangement for securing the device to the supported member to prevent movement in a second direction opposite the first-mentioned direction, comprising a disc-like substantially square retainer centrally secured to the stem and having a flat contour extending proximate the stem at a sharp angle thereto, said retainer having an arcuate contour depending from the flat contour symmetrical about the stem convex toward the first direction and terminating between the stem and the edges of the. retainer to define a circle spaced from the flat contour, said stem having a head covering the flat contour on the side thereof remote from the defined circle and extending to and abutting the arcuate contour, said retainer also having a substantially frusto conical contour diverging from the arcuate contour in the second direction at an angle sharper than the arcuate contour and extending to the corners of the retainer, the retainer plate having edges defining continuous arches between adjacent corners, said corners being flexed inwardly toward the stem upon insertion of the stem into the opening to distort the above contours for establishing a locking engagement with the periphery of the opening.

2. In a caster device having a stem adapted to be inserted in one direction into an opening of a supported member, an arrangement for securing the device to the supported member to prevent movement in a second direction opposite the first-mentioned direction, comprising a disc-like retainer secured centrally to the stem and having a plurality of corners Spaced from the stem, an arcuate portion symmetrical about the stem convex in the first direction and terminating between the stem and the edges of retainer, said stem having a head engaging the arcuate portion and a substantially frustoconical portion diverging from the arcuate portion in the second direction and extending to the corners of the retainer, the retainer plate having edges defining continuous arches between adjacent corners, said corners being flexed inwardly toward the stem upon insertion of the stem into the opening to distort the contours of the above portions, with each corner adapted to engage References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS McIntyre June 18, 1912 Henrikson Dec. 20, 1932 6 Miller Sept. 18, 1951 Kramcsak Ian. 26, 1954 Kramcsak Feb. 21, 1956 Thornsbury Mar. 20, 1956 Kramcsak June 5, 1956 Kramcsak Aug. 7, 1956 

